I love the Hilda graphic novels by Luke Pearson. The drawing style, the colour palette, the layouts, and the writing all work together so beautifully to create a gorgeous and engaging narrative. When I’m in the mood for pure pleasure-reading, I’ll often pick up a Hilda, never mind I’ve read each book over 10 times already, and find something new to discover, or something to linger over a little longer than before. It, to me, is a beacon; an example of what’s possible if I just worked a little harder. The curious thing about Hilda is that it’s so good it destroys my ability to create.
Maybe it’s because it shows me how far I’ve got to go with my skills in visual storytelling. It certainly increases my sense of imposter syndrome as a visual artist. It makes anything I’ve made, in comparison, look like an amateur did it. It ignites all the guilt I feel for not having gone to art school. It, in so many ways, is terrible inspiration. I love Hilda, but I never read it before I’m about to do some illustration work. It makes me seize up and takes a good day or so to recover.
Calvin and Hobbes, on the other hand, is a different story.
I love Calvin and Hobbes just as much as Hilda. It’s one of my go-to pleasure reads – over and over and over again. Like Hilda, the colour palettes, the layouts, the writing in Calvin & Hobbes all work together so perfectly that it’s another beacon of what’s possible if I just worked a bit harder. The curious thing about Calvin & Hobbes is that, for all its similarities to Hilda, it has the opposite effect on my motivation to work. After about an hour of leafing through my collection of Calvin and Hobbes, my hands get itchy for a brush. I can’t help but sketch out a few ideas I’ve made but have been too lazy to put to page. I look for an old sketch that I can spend time colouring. With Hilda, I stop making, with Calvin, I start again.
I don’t really know why any of this is. It’s not like Bill’s masterwork is any more achievable for me than Hilda. I’m still the same, clunky illustrator reading either one. I know that reading Hilda is making me a better writer and artist. And I know that Calvin and Hobbes is doing the same. As they say, to be the best, read the best. What they don’t say, however, is to spend time understanding what effect these brilliant works have on you and adapt your work habits to take advantage of them. The opposite could be catastrophic to your ability to create. And that’s the last thing any artist needs.